Pandemic-Incited Intermediated Communication| (Mis-)Connected: Web Series, Digital Culture, and Everyday Life in Lockdown

Authors

  • Nicola Evans University of Wollongong
  • Mark Ryan Queensland University of Technology
  • Steinar Ellingsen Edith Cowan University
  • Meredith Burkholder University of Wollongong
  • Leandro da Silva University of Wollongong

Keywords:

Web series, everyday life, pandemic, digital culture

Abstract

Web series are, in some ways, tailored for capturing everyday life in a pandemic. As short-form episodic content distributed via online platforms, the creators of Web series commonly work with tight budgets, recruiting crew and cast from their own networks, and making use of the home as an inexpensive location, methods well suited to the conditions of creative work in lockdown. This essay examines 3 of the many Web series that sought to chronicle everyday life during a pandemic: Cancelled, a Spanish-Australian Web series drama; If I Were There With You, an experimental Brazilian Web series; and the German comedy Web series Drinnen—Im Internet sind alle gleich (Inside: Everyone is equal on the Internet). The essay explores the ways in which international Web series made during lockdown interrogate and expand our understanding of the role of digital culture in everyday life for a post–COVID-19 future.

Author Biographies

Nicola Evans, University of Wollongong

Lecturer

Mark Ryan, Queensland University of Technology

Associate Professor, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology

Steinar Ellingsen, Edith Cowan University

Senior Lecturer

Meredith Burkholder, University of Wollongong

PhD Candidate/Researcher at UOW: University of Wollongong, Australia

Leandro da Silva, University of Wollongong

PhD Candidate/Researcher at UOW: University of Wollongong, Australia

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Published

2024-06-07

Issue

Section

Special Sections